For What It's Worth
by rextexx1
Summary: My own take on how Helmet Party may would develope "Ah, well, err...ah should have told'cha long before, but – ya did some mighty fine job out there, pardner." It seems like that feeds the Soldier's ego well enough. He shifts back into his position, and chuckles in his throat, a low mhh-mhh, before he adds: "I KNOW that, maggot."
1. 1

My own take on how The ship Helmet Party ( Engineer/Soldier ) may would develope  
 **Disclaimer:** _Developing Friendships / Character Development / Developing Relationship / PTSD / Angst and Humor / Graphic description of violence_ ** _  
Ships involved:_** _(_ _Engineer x Soldier) / (Heavy x Medic) / (Sniper x Scout)_

* * *

 _For what it's worth, I like you_  
 _And what is worse I really do_  
 _Things have been worse_  
 _And we had fun fun fun_  
 _Until I said 'I love you '_  
 _And for what is worth, I really do_

* * *

„Men, here are the facts as I understand them. One; That was an amazing killing spree. Two – BY THE OTHER TEAM!"

He had flung around so quickly, the group of eight men cringed simultaneously.  
"You are the worst, the most terrible, most sorriest excuses for mercenaries I have ever goddamn seen! You call yourself soldiers? HAH! You make me laugh! I have seen more teamspirit and action in a graveyard than here!"  
The ill-fitted helmet swayed over his hidden face as he charged forwards with his finger raised. His victim of verbal assault was now the Spy.

"You french, frog-brained slug-sucker are not man enough to fight in MY team! And you, you goddamn Robin Hood hippie – you're supposed to SHOOT people! _SHOOT!_ Not throw your piss at them and hope the stench of cowardice will make them go blind!"  
Spy and Sniper sucked on their cigarettes, unimpressed. The american had figured out by now that trying to lure an expression out of them was hard, harder at least compared to the rest. He didn't dwell on trying today.

No, he had a job to do, the job to yell and gripe at each and everyone of his teammates, and throw as many insults his obviously tiny brain could come up with.

"If you would pull your ass outta your whiskybottle once and start doing your job maybe we WON'T LOSE NEXT TIME!" that assault was directed to the demoman, who instantly burst into tears, slurred into his hands, sobbing and whining like a tortured dog. Disgusting. Soldier scowled at the man and moved on. How could he ever become friends with such a kind, he wondered, remembering back to the days when his counterpart on the red team used to be at his side, at least, for a short time. At least one thing was clear as sunshine to him regarding that situation – that RED was definitely not such a big crybaby like the scotsman on his team, and that whenever he killed the enemy, he would feel the sweet, sweet feeling of revenge, every smack of his shovel, every bullets piercing throw their bodies, every rocket tearing them apart and launching their bloodsoaked bodyparts over the battlefield...

But today however, was not such a day, for BLU had lost once again.

And if you would have asked the Soldier about whose fault that was, he wouldn't hesitate to lift his finger and point them at his own crew. And only at his crew. He? No, he never made mistakes, he was american after all, the most glorious fighter america has ever seen – the fact that he had spent most of the time collecting ripped off heads from the battefield instead of capturing ( 'leave that to the boston boy' he had declared) was of course not conducing to their eventual failure.

He moved on.

"And _YOU_ two, you make me goddamn sick!" Medic and Heavy shared a skeptical glance. In their eyes, they had been doing most of the work, and not such a bad one as well. "Next time I see you two fruitbaskets making out in a barn instead of capturing, I will shove my goddamn shovel up BOTH YOUR ASSES!" Nothing but a sneer was the doctors and infantrymans only answer on that. That the Soldier was not quite as delighted over the obvious relationship those two had than the rest was nothing new to an of the mercenaries – that he openly complained and threw insults and jokes at them was predictable.

The german could feel it in the way Soldier kept turning away and back at them, moved from one feet back to the other that there had been a few more things he was planing on throwing at the two of them, but gave up shortly before and continued to move his rage further, to the next mercenary, who happened to be the unlucky one by the name of scout.

"YOU! You goddamn uselesss piece of crap!" he empathized the word "crap" with a kick in the boys guts.  
"AUGH! OH, what the hell?!" Scout groaned, holding his stomach. Soldier's paw gripped the boy by the thatch of blonde hair and pulled him up on his eyesight. Soldier always found especial joy in bullying the youngest member with unnecessary kicks, punches, or any kinds and ways of abuse.

"What is your purpose boy?" he growled.  
"What the hell is your problem, you old fart-?" - _"I ASK THE QUESTIONS, PUNK!"_

Soldier had his riding crop snatched from the floor and with a wide wing, smacked the leather against Scout's face. Burning pain spread on the boys temple and he cried out. _"WHAT IS YOUR GODDAMN PURPOSE?!"  
_ After Scout didn't answer on that rather confusing question, Soldier dropped him. "Your purpose is to take your slimy hand outta your boxers and CAPTURE THE POINTS! _DID I STUTTER?"_

Without registering the Scouts answer, he moved to the masked person, gripping him by the collar. "Hmph!?" Pyro yelped. "YOU, smoky joe, you better have a better reason than your goddamn frilly bra getting stuck in your overall for not SPYCHECKING!"  
"Now now, Sal, Pyro had been a good aid for me. He caught more spies than ya have-"  
"DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK, MAGGOT!?" Soldier hollered at the Engineer that had dared to interfere. " I don't think so! You wait in line for me to get to your sorry ass, or YOU'LL REGRET IT!"

Soldier let go of Pyro, who stumbled and tried to catch balance from hanging one or two feet above the floor a second ago. "YOU! You're a wuss!" he pointed at scout. "YOU! You fight like a goddamn girl! AND YOU-"That was the moment the military man reached the last, and smallest mercenary. The engineer. Soldier had his finger extended, pointed at the mechanic, lips curled over his teeth in a snarl. But his rampage found a final and abrupt end at the texan, for he paused a little too long to indicate a dramatic pause. He softened, visibly, and neither knew if that was a good, or a bad sign.

Engineer's shoulders squared in anticipation of the following verbal assault the military man had prepared for him – but it never came. However, Engineer didn't flinch, didn't feel attacked or assaulted at the fierce gaze the other man cast on him. Heck, he didn't even shy away from moving a small step forwards, redyeing himself for the argue that would start between them two.

"Yeah – and me? What'cha gotta say ta me, boy?" he hissed back. Green eyes, hidden beneath toned glass, pierced through the metal over Soldier' face. After a moment or two, Soldier then sighed, air puffing out of his lungs, and his arm slumped down powerlessly to his side. Engineer had pulled the plug. Like a de-powered robot, his rage puffed out of him like air from a balloon to leave him with a sour expression.

The veteran placed his hands on his back, chest puffing out.  
"You all. Dismissed. Medic may go and patch you all up now." Soldier nodded towards his team. As if given the cue, the german grabbed the rim of his latexgloves and pulled them further down his elbow.

 _"Mit Vergnügen."_

Everyone groaned in relief from the almost daily routine of getting either yelled at or being praised for their fine job coming to an end. Everybody hated this part after the battle, listening to the endlessly long rampages and speeches the fanatic mercenary had prepared for them. Today however, it came to an end much faster, thanks to whatever their little mechanic had done to stop him. It was no secret to anybody anymore that, whatever reason Soldier had, he always went prominently easier on the engineer, no matter what it was. If it was simply out of courtesy for an american fellow or simply deep respect, for the texans words and fists, neither could tell. But courtesy was not a word in the registers of Soldier, and friends was a state between those two that was practically impossible. More due to Soldier being an loner, a social wreck, and friends, he said, was something he didn't need. Why would he? He had racoons, and a Shovel that keep him company. Although the lesser part wasn't all to talkactive.

The breath the engineer held, left his body with a puff, his posture relaxed. It looked like the rest of his powers would not be wasted on starting to argue with the Soldier. He turned to join the rest of the team to head back into the base, frustrated, sore and hungry like a wolf. "Engineer!" Soldier then called in a sonorous voice. Engineer stopped, and stared over his shoulder. "What'cha want, Soldier? Catchin' up with throwin' some of yar reprimands at me...?"

"I need to speak to you. I want to see you at my room, 1800 hour, after dinner."

That was definitely not what the engineer had anticipated for an answer. "May I ask what for?" Engineer was visibly frowning beneath the goggles. And waited for an explanation. But it didn't come. Both just stared at each other for several moments with neither knowing if that was their sign to leave or not. "Sal, is there a particular reason ya wanna-"

"Classified!" Soldier barked. "Dismissed!"

And with that, he turned around, hands holding onto the crop against his lower spine and marching back to the domiciles. Well, well – seems like the scolding would have to wait until a later hour. Such an honor, getting called to the Soldier's room to privately get his ass kicked. Engineer nibbled on his lower lip, while heading back into the base. Once inside in the privacy of his own workshop, he started examining the wounds and bruises he had received from today's battle. With care, he loosened the boots and removed them from his ankles. The tiniest scrape over his aching feet left him hissing in pain. Something was soaked red on his usually white socks.

Nothing on his uniform was left in complete blue anyway, here and there were bloodstains, his or others, or dirt tacked on his overall and hands. Every muscle and every bone was sore from carrying 250ibs of toolboxes over the field, or getting kicked, punched, stabbed, launched in bloody bits in the air, or being shot in the head. Two-fort had never been his favorite place. Everything was too narrowed, the areas, the perimeters, leaving nearly no place for actual combats that didn't comprise of learning to know the RED 'close and personally'. On which he really didn't insist.

Not when RED spy was around.

And it was too bright, and even when it was raining, it was still warm and humid, and there was always a crack in the clouds where sun rays mercilessly burned down on his head and shoulders. Even through his shirt, he had sunburns. Not to mention, all the other bruises he received. Spies had so much more free room, so many more placed to stay tucked and ambushing the poor texan when his nose was stuck in his blueprints. He had thought about and tried many times to learn the construction plans he had made to know them by heart, just so his attention spam wouldn't be fixed only on the buildings he created, but that was simply impossible. There was always a thing he erased, added, adjusted and changed that there was no time to memorize it.

His hand wandered over his nape down into his shirt and gently scraped the fresh scar of a knifes blade over his left shoulderblade. That damn spy never missed the lungs, he thought, and scratched the crusted layer. Medic had often told him not to touch it while it healed, but it didn't matter – it left scars anyway. Bruises he did know by heart, for he received them nearly daily.

With a deep sigh, he brushed off his shirt and undershirt, his socks and pants. Ugly, blue and green spots were spread all over his shins and arms, his ribs and back. Shrapnel's of explosions from demomen or soldiers had left carvings in the mechanics body, little burnmarks from Pyros that burned his mechanics.

Today, RED had taken much fun in torturing the BLU Engineer.

No wonder Soldier was angry, but he had simply no right. While he seemed to enjoy himself in adding new heads into his collection, he wouldn't notice the constant assault on the engineer during the day. He built a sentry, it was shot down. He build a dispenser, it was shot down. Teleporter up, the next second down.  
At the end of the day, he was certain he was killed, more often than he actually had killed. Within mere twenty minutes, all three suitcases were gone. And he had to carry the can for it. But it was not his fault, he had done his job like he always did. Soldier still yelled at him, at all of them– he should have helped , instead of going on a solo killing spree.

But Soldier was not a teamplayer. No, he never were.  
He always killed on his own, died on his own, walked and traveled on his own. He was much like sniper, he didn't call for help, or didn't call a medic when he knew the damage was too much to safe. Like an old cat, feeling the end was dawning, he dragged himself into the next corner and waited for the cold embrace of death.

Engineer wondered if he was lonely.

Maybe he was, and was simply good at hiding it. There was never a time where Soldier seemed unhappy in solitude. Never had he felt the need to join poker-evenings with Sniper, Demo and Scout, never joined him, Pyro and Heavy at the campfire. Now that Engineer was recalling, there had never been a social event he had ever seen the soldier taking part of. Not even in battle did Soldier like to team up with anybody. He wasn't like Pyro, helping the engineer to keep nasty spies off of his back. He wasn't like Medic, standing at the Heavy's side to fight. That was still a peculiar behavior who always swore on team spirit in his unit. Soldier never had a friend, it seemed.

Besides the enemy Demoman. For how many times had Engineer tried to talk some sense into him, saying that the friendship he as with Demo is dangerous and foolish, not to mention discarding his idea of loyality to the team. Why wouldn't he befriend their own teams demo? Or anybody else? Hell, he even suggested becoming friends with engineer himself. But to no avail. He was stubborn, but so was Engineer And while Engineer got dressed properly, readying himself for dinner, he wondered what occasion the Soldier had found to call him to his room. It wasn't often that the Soldier wanted to talk to any of his teammates in private. Not even for brawls. Engineer didn't know if he should feel honored, he still couldn't think of a reason he would call him out of anybody to his domicile.

Engineer entered the messhall and seated himself with a bowl of boring tasting stew next to Pyro and Scout. "Mind if ah sit here?" he asked, and Pyro quickly scooted over to make place for his friend.

"...So then, I says to the guy, 'brotha, I hurt people,' and then the chump turns and runs! Grabbed my gun, BOOM, head gone, clumps'a hair flyin' everywhere; most fuckin' hilarious thing i've ever seen."  
Scout munched on his bread while telling the story he told Sniper everytime they sat together, and then laughed so hard, chunks of food launched out of his mouth and everywhere on the table. Sniper shoved his bowl demonstratively away from the obnoxious brat with nothing but a deep grumble.

"I'm tellin' ya, there's nuthin I've seen before that's funnier." The boy had now turned to the texan. "What'cha lookin' at, hardhat?"

"Boy, would'cha lookit that." he pointed at the welt on the scouts temple. "Looks like that soldier-boy beat'cha good." - "It's nuthin', really. Doesnt even hurt- _OW!_ " the boy flinched as Pyro poked against the red, hot bruise on the scout's face. "Dude, don't jus' _touch_ it!"

"Ya shoulda oughta tell the medic, son." Engineer traced the welt with his thumb. "Ey, don't get all faggy on me!" Scout shoved the man's hand away angrily.

"This ain't no big deal, give it a day or two and you ain't seein' any of it. Hopes though this ain't leavin' a scar. Look at that, Sniper, ya think this gon' leave a scar?"

Sniper didn't even spare a glance at the boy, and rather continued to sup his meal while reading the newspaper.

"Ya scared the doc's gonna find out about'cha lil' backside problem, huh?" Engineer smirked amused. Scout cringed so hard, the table clattered as his knees hit against it. "Yo, old fart, how abouts ya yell it a lil' louder, seems like the backrow didn't hear ya!" Scout hissed into Engineer's direction. Pyro cocked his head in interest. "Mhmph?"

Scout didn't like Engineer, and Engineer didn't like him either. Nevertheless, somehow it seemed that the mechanic was the only one patient enough to more or less enjoy the company of the bostonian around him, which involved into both, mostly scout, asking for favors which spy never should find out about. He was like, a substitute confidant for the kid, and he wouldn't say he didn't enjoy helping the kid along. Keeping a secret though was not his good suit, and helping for such matters was definitely not his job.

"Look boy, if ya consider getting' checked by the medic, I ain't gonna spill Spy that ya havin' some problems sittin' down correctly." To empathize his words, he looked down at the funny way Scout's backside nearly didn't touch the bench. "Ya wouldn't dare-" Scout hissed. "Wouldn't I? Well, ah'm sure Spy would love to know about that little hemorrhoids problem ya been tellin' me about -"

" _JEEZ_ , alright _MOM_!" Scout rolled his eyes over dramatically. "Is not my fault that freakin' psycho hit me with that thing! Man, who the hell does he think he is, that freakin', old bastard-"

"That is still SIR 'freaking old bastard' to YOU!"

The booming voice of the Soldier suddenly rumbled behind the boy. Scout turned his head over his shoulder, before a large hand grabbed him and pushed his face into his bowl of stew. Clangorous guffaw filled the hall at the sight of the Soldier sinking the boy's face into his meal and only releasing after Engie cast an angry glance at the man. Scout gasped, while broth dripped down his chin and onto his shirt.  
"What tha hell?!" Scout blubbered enraged into Soldier's direction, who demonstratively ignored his presence. Pyro gingerly fetched a towel and rubbed off the remains from Scouts face and shirt, while the young man squirmed and griped that he shouldn't treat him like a goddamn baby. "That friggin', old, goddamn, stupid, birdbrained-"

"Say, didn't he meant te talk to ye later about something?" Sniper finally lifted his gaze off of his newspaper to look at the Engineer with his eyebrows arched in question. He didn't even seem to acknowledge the misery of his teammate across the other side of the table. "He sure was eager ta speak me. I'mma makin' sure he ain't be bullyin' ya again, kid." Engineer patted Scout's shoulder. "He doesn't bully me, jeez, only wimps get bullied!"

"Yer are a wimp then, olroight." Sniper commented dryly.  
"Oh yeah, ya better say that to mah face, tough guy!" Scout hollered over the table.

"Nah, sorry mate. I would, but it's covered in vegetables."

Engineer didn't follow the fight between the two, his gaze had wandered off, back to the man at the end of the table, sitting far isolated from the group and munching on his single dry loaf of bread. He seemed distracted, sunken in thoughts. His broad jar squared from time to time, and even with his face covered under the helmet, he seemed to show a frown.

Engineer continued to occasionally raise his head from his meal, watching the clock or trying to calm Scout's endless ranting, until during another dispute bubbling up between the Aussie and the Bostonian, Engineer caught Soldier raising from his chair and heading out of the mess hall, back to his domiciles.

And after dinner was done, he followed. Engineer poked his head out, seeing if anyone was roaming the hallways who might start prodding him for questions. After making sure he was in the clear, he slowly stepped out into the hallway and walked towards Soldier's quarters. Only the loud clops of his boots were heard in the corridor, as if to remind him of his own hesitance. The corridors were long, and cold and empty, besides the many doors it bore. Not each of the rooms behind had Engineer ever seen and he didn't want to either, now that he thought about it. Here he was – standing at the same room that belonged to someone who, by society's standards, might as well be thrown in an insane asylum for being such a danger to others. With hesitation, he knocked.

" _HALT!_ " boomed the voice from inside. " _NAME AND MATTERS?_ "

"Dagnabbit, Sal!" Engie had dropped his hardhat, so much did the sudden change in volume in his ears startle him. "I can hear ya jus' fine, EVERYONE can hear ya jus fine. No need ta yell!"

That was enough as an answer for Soldier to open the door. The first thing the engineer was greeted with was a tight fitting white shirt stretched over a broad chest and as Engineer slowly tilted his head, he saw Soldier's familiar scowl on his face.  
"You are late, private!" he growled.  
"Nope." Engie shook his head. "Ah'm quite punctual, boy. Wouldn'cha look at the time, it's 6 pm, a'right-"  
"IF I SAY YOU'RE LATE, THEN YOU GODDAMN ARE LATE!" Soldier gripped the Engineer by his collar and pulled him inside his room, closing the door harshly behind them and, to Engineer's dread, locked the door behind him.

"Well, what a warm welcome..." Engie muttered and situated his overall. Soldier's room was, to his surprise, more comfortable than his own. Where there would be large crates of scrap metal, scrambled paperwork and blueprints scattered, there were neatly folded towels, socks, and t-shirts, stacked and ready for use; the desk that Engineer was used to being cluttered with tools and documents, Soldier had organized into a tidy workspace, complete with lined paper, pencils, and pens (so tidy, in fact, that it looked like it had never been used, which was highly reasonable ), the american flag hanging on the wall as the only decoration for this cold and rather empty room. It resembled more of a prison cell now that Engineer thought about it.

Engineer still clutched the hardhat in his hands as he turned around to watch the man moving past him towards the desk. "So, ah...how ya doin', Sal?" the texan asked. He knew better to start the conversation as casual and friendly as possible, being in Soldier's good books spared him god knows what kind of torture.  
"Ya recoverin' fine? Ah saw ya fightin' with that demoman today, uh – he struck ya nicely." Engie's eyes moved down to the side of Soldier's body, where the splintered bottle had grazed him during their combat. Soldier replied with nothing more than an absent-minded grunt.

There was no trace of any blood or injuries on the clean, white shirt the man wore, otherwise, there was no sign he had attended the medic either. Smalltalk, it seemed was not on the military man's mind. So the tinkerer supposed to go down to business right away.  
"So, ah - is there a certain reason ya been callin' me here, Solly?"  
Engineer asked feebly. Something in the way the man moved was intimidating. Everything about him was, in fact intimidating. Engie had always expected to know that man better than anybody else, but that theory seemed to disprove.

"Look, ah, if ya still mad at our team losin' t'day, ya ain't gonna have ta-"

"You are scum! You are a disgrace to the hardhat!"

"...Come again?" Engineer raised the eyebrows under the goggles.

"You heard me quite alright, civilian!" Soldier barked, and turned around, a familiar tool in his hand. "Engie, I have watched you over the few last days, and it is exactly what I feared – no. Even worse!"  
"Ah'm really not catchin' up with ya, Sal." Engineer replied flatly. A mistake. For the instant slap of the crop across his arm made Engineer jerk in pain.  
"Ow! What in tarna-"  
"I DO NOT ALLOW ANY FORM OF ADRESSING ME OTHER THAN 'SIR', IS THAT CLEAR?"  
Engineer's jaw nearly dropped. Another hard swing of the crop against his other arm. "IS THAT CLEAR, I ASKED."

"Sa-, ah... Y-yes sir." Engineer muttered, still befuddled by the sudden assault. That seemed to please the Soldier.

He poked the Engineer's chest with the crop. "Pants down." he then ordered.  
"Do what now?"  
"I said pants down!"

Engineer cringed. What in sam's hill was going on here? The rather confused gaze on the mechanics face made Soldier roll his eyes under the helmet.  
"If you think I am going to unbutton your overall myself, you are wrong! I am neither your servant, nor am I a goddamn fruitcake! I will not put a finger on an other man if I'm not intending to rip off their heads, _so do what I say!_ "

Now that was an even bigger surprise to hear. Inwardly, Engineer had already prepared for the worst.

"I-uh..."  
 _"STAND AND DELIVER, MAGGOT!"_

"A'right, a'right! Ah, hell..." Engie wheezed, but obeyed. He grunted, and unbuttoned the straps of his overalls, letting the front bib hang flaccid. This was all really weird. Perhaps this should have been a sign to run, but Engineer missed his chance. Now all he could do was watch as Soldier eyed him skeptically, while circling him, the crop gently bobbing up and down in his wrist.

"Look at you, maggot. Even your goddamn machines need a diet! You are weak! Lazy! Fat!" the soldier emphasized the word 'fat' with a swift and decisive swing of his crop, hitting the engineer's very sensitive side. Engineer jerked with a surprised yelp."I do not allow such lack of strength in my goddamn team!"

Now that was plain mean. Yes, he hadn't had the shape of Soldier, but the difference between him and himself was, that Soldier was carrying a rocketlauncher around most of the day, and took his over-the-top training regimen very serious. Engineer however was a man that solved problems. Practical problems. And losing weight was none of these.

He growled, knitting his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak: "Son, ya better be taking that back or ah'm promisin' ya, ah'm gonna lay ya out-!"

To no avail. Soldier grabbed him by his nape then and pushed him with such strength to the floor, hadn't he reacted in time, his face would me pressed into the ground now. "On your knees, maggot, and give me 20! No, 40! GO, GO, GO!"  
And Engineer had no other choice but to follow his orders. He was still not fully finding any sense in the man's actions, but if the only reason he called him to his room in privacy for push-ups and hits, then he might as well just unlock the door himself and leave. "Come on, move your sorry ass!" Soldier bellowed, threatening to whip him once more. Engie instantly pushed his heavy body off the floor with his hands propping against the ground beneath, lowered himself again just barely before his nose tip touched the ground, and pushed himself up again.

"Faster, FASTER!" Soldier shouted. Engineer tried to speed up without running out of breath. Once he found a steady but involuntary rhythm, puffing out a hot breath each time he lowered himself again, he absolved his push-ups. Soldier watched the man like a hawk, swirling the crop in his hand. "I have taken it my duty to bring you into shape, Engie. For the next few weeks you'll follow my leads. Things like lollipops and chocolate-bars will not exist in this plan, and this here is only a sample. You will be training hard! Everyday!"

"W-What?" Engineer wheezed.

"I DID NOT ASK YOU A QUESTION!" Soldier whipped Engineer on his nape, and the tinkerer cried in pain. "Come on, come on, One-two, one-two! Faster Maggot!"

"Dagnabbit Soldier, I-"

"Not enough pushing! C'mon professor! I wanna see you kiss the floor! Kiss the floor, dammit!"

Engineer growled angrily, refusing to even consider to –-

"LIPS ON THE FLOOR, SCUM!"

Never had Engineer quicker pressed his lips on anything than now, with each lower, his mouth made contact with the ground and each time he could swear something was left stuck on the soft flesh and he just wanted to brush it off so badly.  
At the count of 30 push ups, his powers left his body so fiercely, he groaned and collapsed. His chest heaved and fell rapidly and deeply, his already aching body was feeling like an elephant stood on his spine.  
His lungs burned like fire and each breath he drew was searing in his throat.

Soldier however, was not satisfied. Not satisfied at all.

"Just look at you, disgraceful blob of a man!" To Engineer's relief, Soldier placed the whip back on the table. "You call yourself a mercenary? You call yourself a man of my team? Hah! I have seen people in goddamn coffins fitter than you!"

Engineer didn't reply, rasping to catch his breath and endure the blooming pain of the welts all over his body with occasional groans and whines muffled by the floor. "Show some goddamn backbone, I barely touched you!" Soldier growled. But it seemed Engineer's slightly exaggerated writhing in pain finally reached Soldier's soft spot once more. He gave not more than a sigh, and marched past his own declared student.

Paper and pen were fetched. Soldier scribbled, and Engineer carefully pushed his body off the floor.  
A mingle of anger, frustration, and embarrassment seeped into his head. But before he could start ranting into Soldiers face about that truly atrocious opinion the older man had about him and his work, and the way he treated him, Soldier turned and held out the note he had written down.

"This is your training's schedule! I want to see you at attention, at 0500 hour in the morning, at this very doorstep."

"Five in the morning?" Engineer rasped appalled. "Soldier, how the hell ya thinkin' ah'm gonna-"

"NO EXCUSES, HARDHAT!" Soldier hollered, and then shoved the engineer to the door. "Dismissed."

"Solly, listen to me-!"

"I said, _Dismissed!"_ The door closed with a harsh swing.

Dumbfounded, wobbly on his knees, and with nothing but burning weals all over his body and a piece of paper, Engineer digested the entire scenario he had just witnessed in silence staring at the door.  
It all happened so fast and in such confusing turns and twists, it was nearly too much for the texan. The reminder of events were in his hand, and on his skin, which started to burn badly.  
Engineer quickly scooted away from Soldier's door, scared another session of whipping would wait for him if he dwelt too long. His hand rubbed over the hot wheal on his neck and hissed silently.

For gods sake, he was fine with being called fat. He was fine with being ordered about, as long as it was weighted on mutuality, but Soldier daring to call him "lazy", "weak", or even hurting him, that was going too far.  
Alright then, soldier-boy, Engineer thought. You wanna play with the bull? Then you better had watchin' them horns! There was no way you can take a Conagher by the horns and joggle on them without them jamming up on you!

He would show him what a weakling this Engineer was, right next morning – but first, he should visit the doctor. Those welts were seriously starting to hurt.


	2. 2

p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""RISE AND SHINE, MAGGOT!" was the first thing the Engineer heard in the morning. "IT'S APPOXIMATELY 0500 HOURS IN THE MORNING AND TIME FOR YOUR SORRY ASS TO GET IN SHAPE!"br /Never had Engineer been woken up in a worse way. Soldier had slammed his door close after his brief, extremely loud speech, and left the poor mechanic shivering in the aftershock of that sudden intruding of his domicile, and so tired it was hard for him to keep himself awake as he scrambled out of the sheets. His eyes fell on the clock. 5 am in the morning. Actually, a minute or two later./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"He could have had at least two more hours of sleep if it was a normal work day, and the double amount of time if it was a ceasefire day. But today, his routine would have some drastic changes. The tinkerer groaned, and dragged himself to his wardrobe, changed his clothes into a single white shirt, his goggles and his overall and lazily slipped into his shoes before meeting the soldier in as much clothing as himself, the and cracking his knuckles and /br /"There you are, hardhat. Ready to drop that cheesecake with cream on top and start your physical remediation?"br /It probably wouldn't make any difference if he would reply with yes or no, so he just shrugged his shoulders. "Better get started before we gotta head off ta work, huh?"br /"Correct! That's the spirit!" Soldier smirked and patted the engineer roughly on his /br /The sky was still covered in stars, it was pitch black and damn cold. Soldier lead the tinkerer out of the base to a secret trainingsground behind the building. Would Engineer have known how cold it was at this time in the morning, even in the desert, he would have grabbed a bunch of warmer clothes. Trembling in every inch of his body, he held his torso in an attempt to shield himself from the cold. Soldier, wearing even thinner clothes, didn't seem to mind the /br /"Alright, greasemonkey. Your times of relaxing afternoons with beer and cream gravy are hereby emterminated!/em Every soldier of mine will learn to follow orders, to show efficiency on the battlefield, and especially to muster 40 goddamn push-ups in less than fifteen seconds – hell, are you even listening?"br /Engineer rubbed over his arms. "H-Hearin' ya loud and clear." He pressed between clattering teeth. "For christs sake, Hardhat, it's just a little windy, is all! If you would have fought in the neverending ice and snow of Poland 1945 you would be goddamn grateful you'd still be able to move your toes and fingers!"br /That's right, Soldier had been fighting in Poland before joining the team, Engineer remembered./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Honey, where ah'm from, ya gonna emwish/em ya would freeze for once!" Engineer pressed out. By the way Soldier jerked his had back slightly, his helmet swaying over his face, he could imagine that gainsay from the other was not /"Well, seems like your wish was granted then!" Soldier barked, turned and grabbed the Engineer by his shoulder to shove him along. "We gonna do some warm-up. Follow me, hardhat!"br /"No forty push-ups? No crop swingin'?" Engineer sneered. "How generous of ya, hoss."br /"From what I saw yesterday, my level of training is too violent for you, cupcake! So lets get you some generous warm-up!"br /br /That generous warm-up was a 200 meter sprint. Engineer stared at the stomped in straight path that stretched over a terribly long line. "Ya can't be serious, Soldier."br /"I am always serious, grease monkey!" Soldier lowered his stance, feet angled on the floor, hands pressed into the dirt, shoulders squared. "Get down." he rumbled. Engineer didn't budge. He still tried to make out the distance from here to the other side, which was nearly impossible in the darkness. He sun did not yet show itself behind the /br /"What's the matter, hippy? Too violent for you was well?"br /br /"Heck no!" Engineer hissed, and in wantonness, he leaned down as well, thighs quivering in anticipation. He was not here to be called names all day or being labeled as weak by that half-cooked son'uva'bitch! He'll gonna lay him out this time!br /"Ready! Set..." Engineer didn't even hear the "go", as he already saw the Soldier starting to run. He tore through the dirt and sprinted, with Engineer barely catching up behind. You gotta hand it to him – he was fast, if he wanted to. Usually on the battlefield, he might be one of the slowest. But carrying a half-a-ton heavy weaponry was certainly a restraint. His footfall shook the /br /Engineer panted, but soon caught up. In fact, he noticed the military man was falling back. Engineer displays a smirk of triumph, seeing the end of the line coming closer and closer. For a moment, Engineer's glee over beating the Soldier in at least speed, he pondered if there was a reason the man was slowing down. Was this a tactic? Slowing down and then catching up rapidly? Engineer comes realize he was running out of breath very quickly all of the sudden. The line seemed so distant, even though it seemed so close just mere seconds ago. He lost control over his breathing, the power in his legs left him. Just a few meters before the finish line, he has to /br /His sight is blurry and his lungs are burning, whistling, his thighs and calves burning like fire. He is panting, leaning over his knees, sweat dripping down his brow, while he hears Soldier's thunderous steps passing him and reaching the end. He doesn't see as the military man closes up on him and stands in front of him, hands on his hips, his chest heaving and falling just barely while he waits for the tinkerer to catch his breath. "Got hair in your eyes?" Soldier rumbled. "Well, son...ah guess ah...underestimated ya there."br /"Speed is not the key, hardhat! It's stamina!" He grabs one of the towels from the bench he had rested them on and throws it into his direction. "Clean yourself up, Tex!"br /Engineer reaches for the rag and mobs it over his forehead and face./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Now that we have warmed you properly up, its time for stamina training! You flab need to gain muscles! Endurance!"br /Engineer had to prop himself up on his knees and catch his /"You will NOT bend over in a stomach-emptying position unless I say so, do you hear me?! We are going to burn that laziness off you, even if the russians will invade this here territory! But they won't, cuz YOU WILL FINISH THIS TRAINING FIRST!"br /br /Soldier dragged the wheezing Engineer across the training ground to the pull-up bar. He jumped up and took a vice grip on the metallic pole, hovering there for a few seconds, the power in his arms alone holding his muscle-heavy body in the air. He lowered himself, just barely before his knees would touch the ground, pulling himself up again until the pole pressed into his /"The key to...fitness is 'train until your bones break and knuckle bleed!'." Soldier huffed between each pull up. Engineer stared across the bar towards his involuntary fitness /br /"Sun Tzu said that! And I'd say he..he knows a little more about training thanem YOU/em do pal!" Soldier pointed his finger at Engie, and almost slipped in the process." Because heem INVENTED/em IT!" br /Engineer didn't buy it though. He was schooled enough to know that Sun Tzu had never said any of this, and that Soldier was just making up stuff in order to motivate him to...'burn that laziness off him'.br /br /Soldier kept pulling himself up and down. "What are you waiting for, rodeo-clown?! Get to it then!"br /br /But Engineer refused. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, demonstratively staying where he was. "I'm not going to ask twice, sally!"br /But Engineer didn't budge. This was it. He would take critique well, and negativity wasn't something he wouldn't confront on a daily base. But he wouldn't let this man bully him into following his every will. Soldier stopped as well now. The helmet on his head still swayed, yet his eyes stayed hidden. Metal stared back at toned /br /"Are you disregarding my orders, private?"br /"Ah dunno; am I?" Engineer replied /Soldier let go of the bar and landed on his feet. He inched closer. "You do not ask the questions here, maggot, I AM the only one permitted!"br /br /"Is that so?"br /br /"Stop asking questions, beef jerky, and follow my lead!"br /br /"I'd rather not." Engineer glowered back. "If'n ya keep handlin' me like ah'm a mental handicapped fatass, Ah'mma ain't doin' a thing."br /br /"You WILL grab this pole now and you WILL exercise, that is an order!"br /br /"Forget it then." Engineer pushed past the wall that was Soldiers' /br /"Where do you think you're going?"br /"Back ta sleep. Ah ain't gonna put up with this horseshit this early. Can't believe ah actually agreed ta this here. Oh, yeah thats right – ah didn't have a choice ta begin with!"br /There was a vein that popped up at the side of the Soldiers neck. "YOU DISGRACEFUL, SPINELESS WORM! YOU WILL NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON ME AND WALK AWAY FROM YOUR SEARGANT, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"br /"Ya ain't mah Seargant, Soll!"br /"YOU WILL emREGRET/em-"br /br /Suddenly, there was a loud, shrill tone that burst through the megaphones around the outside and inside of the base, shaking the mercenaries out of their sleeps, and shooing birds up into the air with loud /em"ALERT! MISSION AT FREIGHT BEGINS IN TWENTY MINUTES!"/em/p  
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p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"br /Freight used to be a docking station for cargo trains that arrived from the nearby harbor. The two competing companies across each other were called Redstone cargo and B. Freight and shipping, build and financized by Redmond and Bluetarch Mann. The only difference between both enterpises was, that they had different names, and different locations. Besides that, both shipped and deported the same ware and even went the same route. Back then, many civilians and workers were wondering why they simply wouldn't team up, instead of building on each others lands. Yet its a long line of generations that knows why such things weren't even imaginable between the twins, and thus they kept fighting, yelling, buying, /br /At least until they gave up on the properties and the buildings became abandoned. And yet the two brothers fought over who was the actual proprietor of the facility; like with so many other properties their father had owned. Just recently the administrator re-opened the docking station as a battleground for RED and BLU as a control-point map, and claim the territory for their own. Engineer already had seen the map. The administrator had given him instructions over how the battlefield would look like, work, and where the loyal little Engineer would place the controlpoints. Yes, he knew; he, and the Engineer from the other team, knew more than the rest. Worked ahead. They fueled this entire endless war, and gave it paths and ways to manifest. But that was his job, and after all – killing some son'a'bitches was a way better pastime than working in some old rotten barn and pulling out body parts of dead game rolled over by combines./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Engineer swirled his wrench in his hand. He always did before the fight; to relax, and reflect on where he could put his teleporter, his sentry and dispenser. He took a break from the rest of the team that thoroughly chose which weaponry they will choose for todays battle. Scout just recently received a new secondary weapon, a cleaver which Saxton Hale had purchased from a trip to Tokyo. He said these were as good as new, yet the bits of raw fish and rice grains told him that there cleaver was definitely used for other purposes before. So, the boy kept throwing the thing around like it was a dart arrow, and from time to tme the cleaver flew into someones arm, or even chopped off Scouts own /br /Medic grabbed his medigun, and removed the overheal container. He always kept them in jars, that had a slight red glow in the darkness. Soldier asked Medic if it was honey, Medic shook his head. Soldier said this has to be honey, it looked exactly like-br /"Soldier, you vill not eat zhe medi-fluids! Zhey aren't for you!" On cue, Heavy moved past the doctor and the Soldier, and nearly knocked both over. Medic prepared the kritzkrieg fluids for the medigun, and held the trigger open for the fumes to consume Heavy's massive body. He gave each one a small overheal for the start, which Engineer could only thank the doc for. He was usually one of the fewer health endowed people, at least he was told so./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""emMission begins in sixty seconds/em..." The dark smoke-heavy voice of the Administrator murmured through the intercom. Outside the battlefield, there were sounds. Voices that angrily echoed over the /"Seems like the Red blokes are already here..." Sniper rumbled and leaned against the metallic slide door. "Cannot loose dis time." Heavy mumbled. He was right. They already had lost enough times this week, one more loss, and they promised paycheck would go to /br /They were tired, and stressed, and mostly frustrated, Engineer could see it in their faces, and hear it in their /br /Soldier pressed himself in front of the /"Men, this is our final chance for win, and our dinner privileges for the rest of the week! I REFUSE to leave my honor and dignity to those red emmaggots, /emI will TAKE my honor and dignity to my grave, and so should all of you sorry sacks of crap! We are mercenaries! We are a team! And now we are going to give those cheesecrackers some hell the will never EVER forge-"br /br /During his speech, Soldier hadn't acknowledged that the timer was running down, and once it hit zero, the door behind him opened with a loud creak, and the team pushed past him, out of the respawn, and to the platforms, jeering their battlecries, and heaving their weapons into the air. Soldier was left alone, his finger still raised, dumbfounded and frozen to the spot, with Engineer calmly collecting his /br /"Ah shucks." He grabbed his ungainly toolbox and heaved it up to his shoulder. "Well, don't take it personal, gonna listen next time, hm?"br /Engineer gave the Soldier a soft pat on his arm. The Soldier's gaze was still obscured under that heavy lip of his helmet, it was always hard to read this mans emotions. For a second it seemed the touch calmed the man down from his over-the-top-horse, but then Soldier huffed, and pushed Engies hand /"Don't touch me." He snared, picked up his own rocketlauncher, and blasted off, into the distance. Engineer just rolled his eyes with a sign, and continued setting up his /br /The battle was already heated and in full bloom. Engineer had wasted enough time comforting the stoic persona to miss setting up a sentry. However he did witness the alert that RED had inched close to the unoccupied control-point in the center. Freight was definitely not one of his favorite battlegrounds. It was messy, all over the place, there were secret passages and confusing shortcuts that even he couldn't couldn't keep up with. And he lost count of the many times he had been hit, smashed, hauled away and rolled over by passing trains that still run through the abandoned companys. His short legs quickly moved over metallic bridges, over small water canals and towards his /br /He came to a wheezing stop, his unbuild Sentry in his arms, and observed the surroundings from the distance. BLU may have kept the center point uncontested, yet half of them were scattered, dead, or just in the process of dying. RED has retreated for now, yet at the other end of the two warehouses, there was an impressive sentry nest. RED Engineer had done some excellent job keeping both dispenser and sentry up in an angle that nobody could reach without getting killed along the way. He would come over and congratulate; yet he supposed it might be better to actually stay here, and get /br /He quickly moved to the front line, yet kept himself hidden behind a wall, pressed himself against it not to be spotted by an enemy. Above him, at a smaller platform, stood sniper. There was a loud and shrill 'Boom' sound, and a following scream, somewhere at the other side of the front /br /"Bighead wanka!" The australian /"Slim, how's the major situation?" Engie asked, one hand on his helmet as smithereens and shrapnel flew over the wall. "Sentry ahead." He murmured, aimed, shot, but missed. He gave an almost canine appearing snarl as he reloaded. "Right, what else?"br /"Their Heavy n' Medic pissed off somewhere. They're prolly choargin' up."br /"Ah, hell!" Engie fetched his wrench. If RED would charge up now, they would never get the central controlpoint. According to the strained face the Medic had on his already constantly alert face told him they wouldn't charge up in nearest future either. Time to get to it then!br /br /"Sentry going up..." He mumbled, and dropped the toolbox. He would have stayed there and keep speeding the process up, yet the next moment he could react, a sudden explosion eruptes just close to the protective wall he had pressed himself against. A loud scream, probably Snipers, echoed over his head. He ducked in reflex. Blood splattered next to his feet, bits of intestines, and a hand flew against the /br /"Daggnabbit..." Engineer growled, and quickly kept moving, throwing the other end of the teleporter somewhere into a secured corner. Next thing he saw were small red orbs that hovered over the walls and into his direction, blinking alarmingly. Engineer gasped as he quickly jumped away, just barely escaping the following detonation. He took a look behind him. The teleporter was in shards. "Teleporter down!" he cried. Its like each of his creations were from his own flesh and blood, his children which he cared for – and seeing one of them hurt or destroyed started to fuel his anger. Baring his teeth, he snatched his wrench, loaded his /br /"C'mere, eyehole!" He yelled. Thats when the scotsman jumped behind the wall, stickybombs launched into his direction and exploded just a few inches away from his shielded head. Engineer yelped as he collapsed to the /"Doon't fret, boyo! I'll be gentle!" the Red demo guffawed and launched another /br /"Hutta hutta hmph!"br /br /It was like a cue from heaven as Pyro appeared around the corner, flamethrower already /"Pyro!" Egineer wheezed. "Pyro there's a demo creepin' around here!"br /The firebug tilted his head, and then quickly nodded as he understood. He always seemed rather excited to hear enemies were in the close range. It meant more cotton candy clouds and bubbles, and seeing the colorful items bursting out of RED's open torsos was just...br /emFascinating!br /br /emPyro snickered in a hushed voice, as he charged off, and towards the enemy demo. Engie himself started shooting passing RED's that somehow found their way around the frontline, and would try attacking from behind, just like that sneaky RED scout. A few shots of Engies sentry and he was down with a gurgled /"Now how did that plan turn out for ya, dummy?" Engineer grinned, running his hand over his chin were the speedster's blood had splattered /Suddenly however, there was a big commotion behind the corner. Engineer was instantly /To his right, he saw Pyro. Escaping. He screamed, as grenades were launched into his direction, Demo running after the poor firebug with a shit-eating grin on his face. To his left he heard a loud scream in /br /Medic stormed away from the frontline, panic on his face. Medic was abandoning Heavy?! What in heavens name was happening out there? Medic ran, but wouldn't come far. As suddenly a rain of syringes pelted down onto the /They sank through his coat into his skin, into his back and his neck, his legs and arms, and at some point, the doctor seemed to completely freeze up and scatter to the /A few of his limbs still twitched as the anesthetics started overdosing his body into /br /"Incoming!" Someone yelled. Engineer pushed past the wall, and stared outside towards the center point. Sniper had been right. The RED's Heavy-Medic team had arrived. Overcharged, and invincible. The RED Heavy was bathed in glowing red, his skin seemed literally to be shining, eyes glowing dangerously, his jaw in a wide angry yell, and bullets pierced through everyone that couldn't hide in time. They inched closer to the controlpoint...br /br /"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Engineer drew his pistol in a desperate attempt to keep them from capping, he shot a whole magazine into the bulletproof skin of the russian. Yet the bullets clanked against the iron hard skin and uselessly tumbled to the floor. Those pair of yellow glistening eyes forcused on him now. The tinkerer freezes up in shock. Bullets zinged into his direction, one piercing through his shoulder. He gasped in pain, and dropped the /br /He was shaken awake by the next bullet that nearly went through his skull, but only tore open the skin at his cheekbone. He retreated, pressing against the wall again. Their Heavy, now alone, couldn't run fast enough either. His entire back was turned into gory swiss cheese, he collapsed with a shiver quacking beeath Engineers /Engineer breathed hard. Keep your calm boy. The charge cant take much longer! It's oughta end in a few seconds! Right...?br /But these seconds felt like hours, bullets shooting, screams of dying, blood, and the wall he was pressed against might as well collapse any second if that Heavy kept shooting against /br /"H-He..." Engineers voice cracked. "H-Help!" He called. "Help me!"br /br /He knew his cry for help wouldn't reach anybody. His team was dead. Spy was missing for the entire match, didnt sap, didn't kill or backstab /In that moment, a rocket flew into his direction. The impact instantly destroyed his sentry, and hauled him a few meters away, he landed hard on the floor and groaned in pain over a broken /"There you are, professor!" The raucous voice of RED Soldier sounded right behind him. Engineer forced himself up to roll onto his back. The Soldier was closing in, drawing his shotgun from his holster, cocking it back. That's it. No way he could get out of this situation alive. So all he did was close his eyes behind toned glasses and await to be embraced by /br /"This is my world! emYOU/em are not welcomed in emMY WORLD/em!" the man yelled. But then suddenly, there was a zing through the air, followed by a dull thud, a skull cracking under a hard surface. The Red Soldier gives a cry in agony, and instantly collapsed, being replaced with...Blu Soldier. The man was standing right above the little Engineer with his shovel in his hand. Blood and bits of smashed brain and hair was sticking to the blade. Steelblue eyes glowing beneath the helmet with /br /"WHAT IN HEAVENS NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" The man above him yells. Engineer was instantly torn from his shock. He blinks and opened his jaw, yet could barely speak. A hand grabbed his collar and pulled him back up on his feet. "Stop hiding behind your toys and FIGHT LIKE A MAN!"br /br /The vice grip around his collar loosens, as Soldier turns around. "The worm is turning!"br /He pointed his rocketlauncher at his feet and blasted off back into the skies above, landing onto the next unaware victim he would smash with his shovel. Engineer stood a few more moments there, recovering from the fact he nearly died there. And as fast a it came, it ended, Engineer found himself back in the here and now. His PDA had been beeping and blinking for a while now, mot probably also the reason Soldier had been shaking the Engineer back into consciousness. Flying sparks indicated that a spy had slapped a sapping device on the sentry that he had put up /br /"Spy sappin' mah sentry!" announcing this fact was more for alerting any teammates in earshot of his own presence more so than reporting the problem to them. br /The 'get-your-head-out-of-your-toolbox-and-look-behind-you' speech he got from the soldier flashed through the engineer's mind upon this realization. He dropped his gear, and the RED Spy's knife blade only dug a long trench into his arm instead of plunging into his back as he spun around. Ignoring the injury, the engineer yanked his wrench out from his belt and started swinging it /br /Where the hell did that Slug sucker go?! One second ago he had been here, the other he had vanished again. Bad enough their team was dying to the Heavy-Medic combo, he was the last man standing that at least showed some defense. He quickly moved back to his sentry, taking a swift swing and yanking off the sticky sapper from his sentry with a loud 'Clank'.br /Suddenly footsteps inching closer, Engineer saw the respawned rest of his team jumping out of opened garage doors, and into /br /"H-Hold up there!" Engie wheezed. "Heavy-Medic combo ahead!"br /But none seemed to listen to him, especially not the doggone mad Sniper that rushed past him and back towards the platform he had stood before. "Ah'm gonna blow the inside of their heads..." He growled, instantly took aim. There was a loud bang. Coming from the rifle in Snipers hands, seconds after the sound as if a flash had struck into the location. The enemy medic cried out as blood gushed out of his skull. Instantly the last bits of the RED Medics ubercharge left the Heavys body, and he was left /br /"Doktor!" He cried out once realizing what has happened to his companion. And once he realized he was alone on the /BLU's started storming the center. The Heavy was pushed back, into the safety of the enemies sentry, which however he found destroyed, the Engineer lying in a puddle of blood with a deep stab wound in his back. In panic, the Heavy started shooting in every direction, unfortunately sending the Sniper back into /"Ya did good, slim." Engineer muttered to the shot body that slumped next to his sentry, as he packed his things. "Gotta move that gear up!" he announced, rushing together with their Pyro and.../p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""emBOOM!/em I'm back, dummy!" Scouts foot came quicker than Engineer could actually react. It pushed against the hardhat on his skull, and the entire weight of scouts dainty body pushed itself off of his yellow helmet. Engineer tumbled backwards, nearly tripped. He quickly pushed the lip up again to see what just happened, and watched as the Blu Scout hopped quickly into the air and landed with a rather unpleasant 'crack' sound at the floor, yet he kept running like the little jack-rabbit he /Both the speedster and the firebug rushed towards the unprotected point – being surprised by the enemy /br /"Ah, jeez!" Scout yelped as he ducked from a sailing grenade being hauled into his /"KABLOOIE!" The scotsman yelled with a quick sip from his scrumpy bottle, followed by a belch. Pyro airblasted them back at the spry demo, who was setting traps, snickering in the thrill of anticipation of getting two blus in one explosion; the last thing the scotsman saw and heard was a shift in the air and the words 'sandsman' carved into the bat that was smashed into his face. Demo collapsed with a broken nose and a strangled cry in pain, the whiskey bottle tumbling over and pouring over the controlpoint. There was no defense left, and Blu was free to /br /"Whohoo! Alright, lets move it up, lets move it u-"br /Scout landed on the now free controlpoint, slipped in the puddle of alcohol the demo had left there, and tumbled over with a yelp, landing on his bum. The rest followed, Pyro quickly moving to his friend to help him up, Medic and Heavy joining to /Scout quickly jumped back on his feet, examining his soaked /"Aaargh! You GOTTA be kiddin' me!"br /"Whats se matteur?" Spy suddenly de-cloaked next to the speedster. "Wet yeur pants a little?"br /br /Heavy, Medic and Pyro fell into raucous guffaw, while slowly the countdown counted down to /"We have secured the central control point. ALERT – the second control point is being contested." the old woman's voice /"Good night, Irene." the engineer sighed frustratedly, grabbing two toolboxes at once, and followed the rest of the team, over the bridge. Towards the Red respawn area, where the next controlpoint waited. Engineer wheezed with the weight of two toolboxes on his shoulders, being considerably slower than the rest. The slim wooden bridge beneath him creaked dangerously beneath his weight. He really wasn't keen on landing in the water now, being not the best at /br /His negligence of what his team was doing, he didn't notice the huge wall of muscles that was Heavys back. He tumbled as he collided with him and dropped his toolboxes. "What in Sam's Hill...?" He sputtered. "Heavy, get movin'!"br /"Nyet." Heavy said, not budging. That's when Engie noticed Heavy wasn't the only one who didn't move. Medic didn't either. And so did their Demo. And their Scout, Pyro and Sniper..br /"Dammit fellas, what in tarnation ya waitin' for?"br /br /He squeezed between the Heavy's fat belly and Pyro's generous love handles, just to notice the closed RED doors to the second /"The Spook's checkin' in there..." Demo explained. The tension around them was unmissable. Demo had his thumb attentively at the barrel of his grenade launcher - nudged it around, as well as Heavy keeping his finger at the /"Whats takin' him so long...?" the mechanic wondered, and closed in to the door, pressing his helmeted skull against it to /br /"Hmumph!" Pyro instantly grabbed for Engineer's sleeve, pulling him back, frantically shaking his head. Don't get to close, he begged. "What? Ya think its gonna explode if ah get too close?"br /Possibly? The firestarter shrugged. "We ain't made of sugar cubes! And Ah fer sure ain't gonna wait for the snake ta come at us when they already capped.-" - "emWe have lost the controlpoint!/em" The Administrator announced suddenly. The counter for Red's capture had turned to zero the moment Engineer had lifted his head to /br /"Shucks..." Engineer growled. Well, now they had two options; spreading and defending their middle point from being taken again, or they would storm in and push RED back to their borders. Engineer was about to turn and take his toolbox, see what the team would agree to, yet he could imagine none of them would risk defending over pushing and winning faster. After all, they were all respawned, overhealed, and spurred with determination-br /br /Thats when the doors behind him suddenly sprang open. Engineer barely noticed the bright glowing person that ran into him, as he was suddenly knocked over with a uncharacteristically strength which he had no chance against. His head landed on the flat ground and the hardhat cracked slightly, everything suddenly became warm. Very warm. The smell of burning flesh went up into his nostrils and made him nearly /br /"Fire, Fire, Fiiire!" The heavy thing on top of him cried, gurgled, convulsed. Engineer was grabbed by an icy hand of panic, he frantically pushed the burning french man off his body, as the poor sap perished at his feet. Flames engulfed Engineers overall. Hectically, he puffed out the few flames that he had caught and tumbled back, to the rest of the shocked mercenaries. Dead silence spread over them for a few moments...br /br /"Err..." Medic poked Heavy on the shoulder. "Vhat is happening now...?"br /br /The sudden blast that came behind that very door that hauled the metallic slide door into the air and tore the Medic off his feet at instant was a good answer at hand. The enemies Pyro, the flamerthrower clutched in his hand, and a bloodthirsty glimpse in that oblivious dreamworld of his, sprayed a true firestorm. Crimson flames latched onto clothes, burned the bearers within seconds to extends that they weren't able to stand or breath anymore, the lucky ones that fled were wounded, yet alive. Engineer wasn't spared. An airblast had pushed him away, off his feet and into the air, his shirt /br /"Agh, ugh, fire !" he whined, tried blowing out the flames. He hit the ground, back-first. He was sure he broke his arm. Or his leg. Maybe both. He saw stars for a second, then his vision cleared, he heard the cries of pain around him, the flames that ate his /"Kritz-attack!" They called among each other. Oh...so it seemed RED has changed their /Heavy stood alone, fighting off the Pyro, and the rest of the Red's that now spread over the freshly captured controlpoint. Somehow, he, Sniper and Demo were still alive, while the rest was on their way through respawn. Heavy fired bullets after bullets, pushing away the pyro, until killing him, destroying an about to be build /br /"Graaaah!" he yelled. The cries in pain echoed over the fields, blood coated the walls and the floors, bits of flesh slapped into Heavys face. "Cry some moooore!" They were four, against the entire RED team. Well, not four really. But /Soldier had sailed over to their spot through the air, firing missiles at the enemies, spreading in their /"emMAGGOTS/em!" he roared majestically. His rockets detonated on the ground and shot shrapnel into every corner, one flew into the enemies Medic's skull, who cried out and dropped his kritzkrieg. Just after landing on his feet, he shot up into the air again, /br /"I am going to enjoy kill EACH and EVERYONE of you sorry sacks of scum!"br /"Soldier, watch out!" a voice suddenly yelled behind /br /The veteran reacted instantly, his head turning to the source of the voice, yet couldn't locate it. Watch out for what...?br /He didn't see the silver light that flashed into his direction. He did feel it though. The sudden pain in his upper arm threw him out of his rage. Soldiers eyes moved to the suddenly very hot, burning ahce at his arm. A knife stuck in there. Not any knife. A cleaver had buried itself through his clothes, flesh and into his bone, blood oozing from the wound, streaming down his arm into his jacket, to his pants as well. He tumbled midst air, no, he plummeted from ten feet in height, into the heat of battle. There was no way he could survive such a fall. No way. He would surely have broken his neck on the impact, or even if he did, he would surely bleed to death! Soldier however didn't feel pain as he landed. He heard a loud splash as the ground beneath him gave way, and he was engulfed in coldness all of the sudden. For a second it felt similar to the grip of death that held him shortly before respawn pushed him back into the light.../p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It was dark around him. But not too dark. There, right above him, was a light, blurred, which kept moving around in spastic movements. He felt like hovering, and yet he sank...br /He couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?/p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"His attention was drawn to a figure that suddenly emerged from a fog of small bubbles, a face. Brown eyes, glistening at him. No, just...one /Soldier squinted slightly, staring at the figure in front of him. His friend. His best friend...br /br /There was something in his hand, he just...couldn't really see what it was...br /A swift swing. Pain. Something exploded right to his helmet, the metallic orb banging hard against his temple. He caught himself, his vision spinning, his eyes straightened again to watch dark splinter sailing down into the black deep beneath them. Bottle...br /That was Tavish's weapon...br /br /A jolt went through Soldier. His brain caught up. No. That wasn't Tavish. That was his enemy. His archenemy. A Traitor! A nemesis to the true american spirit! Soldiers fist curled, the water around them gave his power some delay, yet it was powerful as it struck RED Demo right in the face. The scotsman held his bleeding nose, there was a muffled sound, and seconds later, the bottle that had burst at Soldiers helmet, stabbed right into his thigh. Soldier ignored the blood that oozed out of his leg, and his arm, ignored the plumes of red that tumbled between the two fighters to the surface. Two hands lashed out for him, grabbed his /br /He knew what that scotch son-of-a-bitch was going to do! No way he would let this greasy one-eyed crossdresser drown him here! He wouldn't die here, not by his hand! Soldier's hand snatched for Demo's neck as well, pressed it tight. Demo's eye widened suddenly, but he stared back at him with anger sitting deep. He was determined. But the commando was determined too. Dark spots started building around Soldiers vision. His lungs started burning from the lack of oxygen and the struggle to keep his mouth shut behind the bared snarl he displayed. The two struggled, twitched in the water, legs kicking, hands pressing together around necks that gagged for /br /Air...br /He needed air...br /Demo could see that too, and with the last bit of his strength, he bared his teeth into a grin. A hand closed around his skull. Demo's face changed into confusion just in time, before the hand twisted the skull around, breaking his neck. Soldier felt the hands around his neck loosen. He watched as the lifeless body sank, past him down into the water; vanishing deep in the depths of the canals. A last few bubbles slipped from his lips and escaped to the surface, before he was /Surface...br /Surface!br /br /Soldier suddenly realized! Air. He needed air, now!br /He started swimming. The light above him was so far away, further than before. He swam, kicked his legs and flailed his arms around with the small amounts of power he had left. He had to get up there. He had to escape, or he would...br /He would...br /br /His powers were sucked out of him at sudden. He gasped for air, and water filled his lungs, he gagged and coughed, struggling against the burning in his /The dark spots around his vision slowly grew, enlarged. Until his entire view would be covered in dark spots. And then grow dark...br /br /A hand grabbed for the Soldier's jacket. He felt a tug, someone pulling at him. Light! Light everywhere. And air. Soldier gasped as oxygen filled his lungs, yet instantly spat out large amounts of water the moment he was dragged out of the /"There ya go, Soldier-boy." A voice ushered into his ear. Soldier grabbed onto the concrete floor beneath him like his life depended on it, while he vomited water out between wheezing coughs. His vision was blurry, yet once he started breathing normally again, it seemed to clear slowly. His eyes moved up, to the hand that rested on his /br /Along the sturdy arm that belonged to a strong shoulder and stocky frame. Tanned glasses stared at him. "Ya want me ta get the doc here?" Engineer asked. Soldier stared back for a few /"Ya bleedin' from...well, pretty much everywhere."br /Soldier felt a warm stream flowing down his temple. He put fingers at his hairline and looked down at the fingertips. Blood. He looked to the right of his upper arm. Blood. His pants. /His eyes moved up to his savior in the last moment. That sudden realization brought the Soldier crashing back down into his bullet-riddled /br /"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, MAGGOT!" He yelled. Engineer flinched and instantly drew his hand away from the man. The veteran jumped back on his feet at instant. "We are at the verge of loosing AGAIN! And YOU pull out bodies out of the water?!"br /"Whu-?" Engineer blinked. "But...Sal, we won!"br /br /"DO NOT IGNO—Wait. We won?" Soldiers eyes blinked, observing his surroundings. Blu was chasing around the fleeing Red's, killing remaining /br /"emGood, I'm giving you a bonus/em." The smoke-ridden voice of the administrator echoes. "emNow, /ememCLEAN UP AND REPORT FOR DEBREIFING./em"br /br /Engineer speaks the truth – and that slowly sinks into the Soldier's mind as well. Once it did, his face changed back into the stoic mask of professionalism. He pushed himself off the ground, and struggled against the immobility of his right leg, so Engineer kneels down. "Come on then." He slug the Soldiers mighty arm around his /br /"I don't need your help." he /"Sure ya don't."br /Engineer slowly heaves the man in a standing position, fresh blood squirting from the crescent moon shaped cut in his fatiques. Soldier gave little than another pitiful little grunt and bared his teeth; fingers that refused to touch now clawed at Engineer's overall. "There ya go, hoss. Lets get you moving to the doc."br /br /"I don't need the doc! I do not feel pain! I do not have TIME to feel pain! " Soldier barked, and tried pulling away from Engineer – until he struggled his way off of his hold. Standing on his own seemed to pain the man. But he ignored it as best as he can. "Sal yer bleedin' a hella lot."br /br /"I DO NOT NEED A ME—Aagh." Soldier had forgotten about the wound for just a mere second as he had made the step towards him. Engineer caught him, more or less with grace and with a huge effort to keep himself standing. "Easy now..." he slowly lowered the man back to the /"Get me up, I can stand on my own!" Soldier kept griping. He didn't realize the way Engineer held the man up would be considered, well...unprofessional on the battlefield. He held his upper body up, with his legs supporting him, and his arms slung around him. "Doc, we need yer help here."br /br /"Jawohl!" The attentive voice eched as Medic inched close – stopping once he realized for whom the doctor was /"...Ah, err, Herr Soldier, vhat a...surprise you're ca-"br /"Stop the coddled wishy-washy and do your job!" the patriot spat. The Soldiers attempts to come free were only halfhearted by now, and he stopped once he was finally forced into the caring hands of Medic. Engineer sighed, and straightened his back as he stood - not realizing the intense look Pyro gave him from the other side of the grounds; the broom in his hand shaking slightly./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Does it still hurt?" Engineer asks /"What?" Soldier mutters. The tinkerer's hand motions to his own thigh, tapping the invisible wound. Soldier stares at him and then down at his own leg, examining the still fresh, dark red and pink cut. He puts on that expression as if he hadn't noticed it had been there the whole /"Oh, this...?" Soldier brushes a handful of water over it. It must burn like shit, Engineer thought, especially now in the water, under the shower, with soap spilling down his body - but Soldier doesn't even make a /br /"Yeah. Boy, that Scout an' Demo gotcha real good there, huh?" He recalled the cleaver flying across the battlefield and nearly dodging engineer's head, before sinking into the Soldier's shoulder instead. Soldier just scowls. "Pain is the weakness leaving the body." he explains /Engineer whistles lowly. "Whoo-whee. Can't say ah've heard that one before then." Most probably because he didn't read any of Sum tzu's arts of war books, or in fact, made up own catchphrases like the Soldier did. "So that's the reason ya never visitin' the medic, huh?"br /br /"I don't need a frilly apron wearing nurse running after me all the goddamn time like the sputnik! I do not have time to feel pain when I have to tear apart those filthy communists taking MY intelligence and capturing MY points!"br /br /"Y'know, ya should go get that checked nevertheless. We ain't want'cha to get that infected, huh?"br /"This wound is subjected to MY commands! It won't do anything different than healing before I SAY SO!" Soldier had twisted his head and shouted at his own shoulder. God, he forgot, he was talking to a madman. "Well boy, if ya think ya body's gonna listen to ya commands all the time, ya gonna have a bad time." Engineer drawled. "Ya can't control everythin', hm?"br /"Oh really?" Soldier's voice had a defiant tone. "Tsk, if we could control anythin', ah wouldn't be havin' any trouble with 'em spah's, huh?"br /br /Soldier's determined face crumbled at that. Engineer was right. He was always right. Muttering something unintelligible, he eyes his wound, and then returns to washing his hair. He wasn't going to admit that he both hated and loved the way Engineer's words always made sense to him, no matter how elaborate he thought his decisions /br /No matter what he confided to him, the red-blooded texan knew a better plan, without making him feel like an idiot; even though it was easy to find adjustments to his mindsets. Too easy almost. Engineer knew though that Soldier's way of thinking was different from his – or an other sane people. Soldier doesn't want to stick around medic, although he should need medical /br /Soldier doesn't understand why after eating a crate full of honeyjars makes him sick, but it's pretty much self-explanatory. Soldier also knows that he never was allowed to enter any certificated army of the united states, and yet he goes, all alone, on a Nazi killing spree to Europe. The man's past is not a secret to him. They had been colleagues for a long time by now, and everyone knew almost everything about each other. The information that was available at least./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"It must have been scary, all alone in a raging war, lost in the cold tundra of Poland with no sound but the blowing wind and gunfire. Engineer had never witnessed any wars, never fought in one. The horror's it bore were spared. But not to Soldier. He had seen things. Things a normal mortal shouldn't witness. What was it that lead him to do this? There was no doubt that there was always a reason for Soldier to go into battle on his very own at the age of eighteen, to move to every military branch available in america and never getting accepted by any, to eventually join BLU to kill and get killed, over and over /br /What were his reasons? His motives?br /Was it honor, like Soldier always claimed? Was it the need of acceptance, or letting his repressed anger flow out of him?br /br /Or was it plainly madness?br /br /Engineer nearly didn't dare to look at the man that stood under the calming, warm spray of the water. He had never really seen his face without the helmet on. Never, in fact, had he showered right next to him. He saw the weather-beaten, scarred face of the elder man, the baby blue eyes staring aimlessly at his feet, the angular masculine shapes and edges, the wrinkles around the corner of his mouth and /br /He looked old for his actual age. Tired. Almost sad, he dared to say. What he saw here was not the blue eyes red blooded all American man of rage and anger and blood lust, but the beast at rest, fallen back into its shell before it would strike once again as soon as he would enter the battlefield. Engineer couldn't help, but trail his eyes up and down the man's body, soaking in every inch of soft skin stretched over stone-hard muscles. He was huge and broad, at least compared to him, the smallest teammember. There was almost something inside him that would have called the Soldier /br /But who was he to judge what beauty is? He solves practical problems, not /br /Engineer grabbed the soap and lathered his hands, washing off the dust and sweat and mud from today's battle. The awkward silence prolongs, with Engineer still not fully knowing what to do or say. Thank you? Or good job? Soldier knew he did a good job, and thanking him was not necessary, he had said it himself. But how else was he going to express his gratitude for the partial teamwork this morning ?br /br /He felt the need to say something to him, to communicate with this man, but how?br /Perhaps, he thought, he should just get done already and worry about it tomorrow morning. Soldier would want him to be up and ready to go, and he wouldn't miss it. Engineer ruffled over his short sandy hair, let the water run down his body and wash dirt and sweat off him, before turning the faucet, turning his back to the man and heading for the /br /"Where do you think you're going, private?"br /Engineer jerks at the sudden gruff voice behind him. He slowly turned back to face the Soldier. From the way his eyebrows were furrowed and his lip tugged up in a scowl he was definitely not pleased by the Engineer's idea of leaving so /br /"Ah'm needin' permission ta leave the shower as well?" he asked in a daring cocky voice. "You have not fulfilled the measures of acceptable hygiene yet." Soldier was quick to extend his hand, grabbing Engineer by the shoulder and pulling him back under the spray of water. The texan gasped, but didn't struggle as he felt himself being gently pushed against the wall, with Soldier behind /br /"No wonder you get caught by the bloody frenchman all the time, he smells you from over two miles! They have a sixth sense for bad scents." - "Well, ain't that charmin'..." Engineer drawled. Soldier grabbed the piece of his own soap and rubbed it rather roughly over Engineer's shoulderblades. "Charm has no space in battle. I want my men clean and ready for war. And since you don't have hands sticking outta yourem backside/em, you need some assistance here." - "Well...much obliged partner."br /br /Soldier only grunted as a reply. There was something strangely pleasant in the way the rough man was massaging and squeezing over Engineer's shoulders and sides to rub in the coat of soap. He wasn't in any way gentle with this, but how could he judge him – tenderness had no place in battle either, he mused. With a small sigh, he arched his back into the man's busy hands anyway. Soldier furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, running his fingers over the smaller mans stonehard shoulderblades. Well, he might be a little fat around the middle, but years of carrying those large toolboxes around had payed off nicely. He almost slipped a compliment at this, but halted. This maggot didn't deserve any recognition until he could see some progress in their /br /Something then emdid/em strike his admiration however. Just now as the water washed away the foam, he came to notice the strange white coloration's along his skin that seemed so out of place. They varied from long thin lines to round, rough shapes. Some around the areas of his lats, the others around the spine and lower back. Just by now the Soldier came to understand that these were scars. Soldier never knew he had any of /br /em'He always hides behind his pile of scrap like the coward he is' /em Soldier had declared often enough, even in the presence of the tinkerer. He wouldn't get any serious marks of any battle he had fought when all he does is letting his machinery do the work. But that was a false accusation, he learned. There was a line of several small holes running diagonally across his spine that could have been put there in rapid succession by a machine /br /A mark, as large as his own hand marked the lower half of his back in a mildly deeper shade than his normal skincolor, a burn wound or infected cut. But what strikes the military man's eyes were the many large white gapes along his neck and shoulders, mostly located on the left side. Right in the narrowed space between shoulderblades and ribs. Spies were terrible specimen. They knew where to hit the blade to leave internal damages that were irreparable until respawn picked them up, knew how to trick even the smartest man in their team. And he was sure, that RED was taking particular joy in making the engineer suffer as long as /br /Engineer has noticed how Soldier's touch softened all of the sudden. He was absent-minded and trailed his fingers over the contours of his skin that were there since he was born or inflicted by others. It wasn't so bad, the ache of a blade in his back was not as painful as getting burned alive, and respawn was always trusty to pick him up. But it left scars, nevertheless. And Soldier traced each of them with a strange delicacy. By now his rough rubbing and squeezing changed into a slow paced stroking, and he felt his large hand move up to his nape and caressing it. Engineer swallowed thickly at the sudden tenderness he didn't know the Soldier would be able to muster. And then something urged the rocketman forwards and he pressed his lips against the large white scar. Engineer gasped. The sudden contact of warm, calloused lips against that sensitive part of skin caught him with surprise, and he wheeled around, staring back at the larger /br /"Sal, what in sam's hill-?"br /A firm, seeking mouth crashed fervently against his own. Teeth clacked against his own awkwardly, Engineer leaned back, his back pressing against the wall by that sudden attack of lips on his, and his first impulse was to break free. Soldier's hands closed around his shoulders in a tight grip. His entire body told him 'stay'. And oddly enough, the tinkerer did. With hesitation, or rather since he hadn't had much of an option, he opened his mouth a little more and pressing his lips against Soldier's. He replied eagerly, tongue propping out and sinking into Engie's mouth, brushing and rubbing over his own. A moan rumbled through their throats. Engineer's hands lashed out, grabbed the next thing he could reach, which were Soldier's massive shoulders. This was definitely not what Engineer had expected from the man that claimed open love was for hippies only, and did he know how much Soldier hated them. But here he was, kissing him, with such an odd desperation... "Soldier...?" He tries to get his mind out of that hazy cloud they were both trapped inside and grab a a string of coherent thought./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Soldier didn't reply, nor did he let that stop him from cupping engineer's face in his large paws, drawing him back and deeper against his /Soldier leaned his chest against his own, pressing him into the wall, hand on Engineer's jaw, the other kneading down his nape, his back and his sides, and stopped right before his hand would slip too low. He broke away, just as sudden as he had sealed their mouths. Both were panting from the temporary lack of air around them, and the hot humid air heated by the water spraying down on both of them didn't quite help to catch their breath. Engineer stared back at the man's eyes, searching for an answer, for a track to run on. But Solly stared back with the same clueless, lost expression. He jerked his hands away then, and stepped backwards. His adams apple bobbed up /br /"You're ready to go now, Engie..." he said then. His voice was only a decibel of the usual volume of his booming voice. Engineer blinked back at the man with confusion. "Wh—Wha-?" he barely managed to /"My duties are done here. You're dismissed." But he himself turned around then, grabbed his helmet and towel and placed his kevlar back on his head, and the towel around his hips and marched out of the room, as fast as he possibly could. Engineer still stood in the spray of the shower, staring at the door that slowly closed after Soldier had left. His mouth felt dry all of the sudden./p 


End file.
